acquired to himself the Surname of Great You are to remark that as soon as any Branch of the Blood Royal comes to the Crown that they quit their former Surnames and take up that of France So the King stiles himself Lewis of France and not of Bourbon in which several people have been mistaken and Monsieur Philip of France c. though they Sign only with their Christian-Name without adding of France CHAP. V. Of the Children of France THE Children of France are only the Kings Children the Children of the Dauphin or the Kings Eldest Son and the Kings Brothers or Sisters and the Brothers Children the Sisters being always either Married abroad or made Religious all others of the Royal Family are called Princes of the Blood The first Son of the Kings of France is called the Dauphin and the second Son of France is called Monsieur without addition of any other Title But after the Dolphin his younger Brethren are Dukes of Orleans of Anjou of Alencon of Valois of Touraine of Berry of Ponthieu and other Apanages these younger bear the Surname of France and Sign only with their proper Names as the King does so likewise do the Daughters of France who are stiled Ladies The Dauphin was Born at Fountain-Bleau the first of November 1661. about Noon and Baptized at St Germains en Laye in the Court of the Old Castle the 24th of March 1668. by Cardinal Antony Barberin Great Almoner of France His Godfather was our Holy Father Pope Clement the Ninth Represented by the Cardinal Duke of Vendome Legate à Latere and his Godmother the Queen Mother of England Represented by the Princess of Conty who named him Lewis The Dauphin is Heir Apparent of the Crown of France and bears the Title of Dauphin by vertue of a Donation of the Province of the Dauphinate made by Humbert last Prince Dauphin of Viennois to Philip de Valois in the Year of our Lord 1349. upon condition the Eldest Sons of the Kings of France should thenceforward be stiled Dauphins For that reason he bears the Arms of France Quarter'd with those of the Dauphinate environed with the two Orders of the King because the Sons of France wear the blue Ribband from their Cradles His Coronet is raised with Flower-deluces as is that of all the Sons of France Some Authors had formerly without any ground affirmed the Dauphins used to wear their Coronets closed by way of Excellence but the Abbot of Brianville who had likewise upon their credit averred the same thing in his Game of the Coats of Arms of Europe hath since found the contrary upon all the Seals Coins and other Monuments and afterwards presented to the King such a Coronet of his own Invention closed by four Dolphins whose Tails meet all in a Button or knob with four Angels supporting a Flower-deluce which his Majesty liked so well that he order'd the Dolphin should wear no other The Princess that Heaven has replenisht with all sorts of Vertues to be the worthy Spouse of my Lord the Dauphin is named Marie-Ann-Christine-Francise-Josephe-Terese-Antoinette-C ajetane-Hyacinthe Felicia-Victoria of Bavaria Born in 1660. the 28th of November or the 18th old Stile She is only Sister to the present Elector of Bavaria Daughter of Ferdinand-Marie late Elector of Bavaria and of Henriette-Adelaide of Savoy Her Marriage with the Dauphin was Celebrated at Municke in Bavaria the 28th of January 1680. and the Ceremonies or the Benediction of the said Marriage was renewed in France at Chaalons in the Chappel of that Bishoprick between the hours of 7 and 8 at Night the 7th of March the same Year by the Cardinal of Bouillon Great Almoner of France who next Morning said the solemn Mass on that occasion By her he has three Sons the Duke of Burgundy the Duke of Anjou and the Duke of Berry Monsieur the Duke of Burgundy was Born at Versailles the 6th of August 1682. about a quarter and five or six minutes of an hour after ten at Night Some call him Monseigneur or My Lord Duke of Burgundy He is a very handsome Prince and seems to be very healthy He was sprinkled that is he received the essential part of Baptism without the Ceremonies which in the Children of France are commonly deferred some Years by the Cardinal of Bouillon Great Almoner of France presently after his Birth The King sent him the Cross of the Order of the Holy Ghost by the Marquess of Signelay Minister and Secretary of State and Treasurer of the Orders of his Majesty The Duke of Anjou was Born at Versailles at half an hour after four in the Morning on Sunday the 19th of December 1683. The Duke of Berry was Born on Saturday the 21st of August Old Stile and the last of August New Stile 1686. The Children of France that are deceased were 1. The most High and Mighty Princess the Lady Anne-Elizabeth of France was Born the 28th of November 1663. and died in the Castle of the Louvre the 10th of January 1664. 2. The most High and Mighty Princess the Lady Marie-Anne of France was Born the 17th of November 1664. and died in the Castle of the Louvre the 26th of December the same year 3. The most High and Mighty Princess the Lady Marie-Terese of France was Born half an hour past ten at Night the second of January 1667. and died the 1st of March 1672. at the Age of five Years and two Months She was Baptized in the Chappel of the Tuilleries in January 1668. and had for Godfather Monsieur the Present Duke of Orleans and for Godmother Madame the late Dutchess Dowager of that Name 4. The most High and Mighty Prince the Lord Philip Son of France Duke of Anjou was Born the 5th of August 1668. at St. Germains en Laye where he died the 7th of July 1671. at the Age of three years wanting 25 days He was Baptized in the Chappel of the Tuilleries by Cardinal Antony Barberin Great Almoner of France the 24th of March 1669. his Godfather was the Emperour represented by the Duke of Orleans and his Godmother the then Queen of Spain Represented by his Sister the Lady Marie-Terese of France 5. The most High and Mighty Prince the Lord Lewis-Francis Son of France also Duke of Anjou was Born the 14th of June 1672. and died the 4th of November the same year These two Dukes of Anjou are here placed according to the order of their Birth after the Ladies their Sisters though 't is well known they being of the nobler Sex took place before them though they were elder which Order is observed by the Officers of both Sexes that served them When there are any Children of France They are served by several of the Kings Officers As for Example The Kings Chaplains say Mass every day in their Chamber The Chief Physician or one of the Physicians of the quarter is present when they are shifted the Valets de Chambre come thither and serve them too The Door-Keepers do their
last Bill of every quarter because of his extraordinary care and pains One Maker and Distiller of Waters for the Great Masters new Table he has at the Chamber of Deniers for the Waters he ordinarily furnishes in the quarter beginning in January 150 l. and as much for the quarter ending in December But for each of the other Summer Quarters he has 300 l. which makes in all 900 l. yearly One Groom of the same new Table who has for furnishing Glasses Caraffs and other things 200 l. One Keeper of the Vessels for the Great Masters Table at 150 l. One Butler belonging to the Great Chamberlain at 600 l. One Maker and Distiller of Waters belonging to the same at 900 l. as has he that serves the Great Master One Groom of the Great Chamberlains Table who has 200 l. for Glasses Caraffs c. One Keeper of the Vessels at 150 l. CHAP. XVI Of the Great Chamberlain and all Officers under his dependance IF the honour of Officer may be rated from the frequency and nearness of their approaches to the Kings Person then certainly the Great Chamberlain must needs have the greatest share therein of any since it is at all times in his power to be near his Majesty and that he has a very considerable Rank in all the most Magnificent Solemnities This Office is almost as ancient as the beginning of this Monarchy and one may judge of its greatness by the Nobility of the Persons that always have enjoyed it He had formerly a great Jurisdiction over the Mercers and other Trades that deal in Clothing and for that purpose he substituted under him a Surveyor of those Merchandizes who was commonly called the King of the Mercers that is to say their Syndic or Comptroller who also Examin'd the Weights and Measures of the said Merchants His Court of Justice was held at the Marble Table in the Palais or Palace at Paris by a Mayor-Judge Commissionated by the Great Chamberlain and some other Officers The Great Chamberlain was formerly of the Great Officers that Signed all Charters and Letters of Consequence and has still a Right to sit in Judgment with the King at the Tryal of any Peers He had formerly the Keeping of the Kings Coffers and Treasury in his Chamber and had the management of the Exchequer as he has to this day in several places where the Camerlingue or Chamberlain for in different places he is differently stiled is likewise Treasurer and receives all the Revenues and it belonged to him or his Under-Treasurers to carry Money about them for the Kings Liberalities and other necessary Expences He used to have for his Fee the tenth part of what came into the Kings Coffers and was wont to deal out the Annual Gratuities to the Souldiers and provide Presents for all Ambassadours He has been indifferently stiled Cubicularius Camerarius or Cambellanus that is Bedchamber Man Chamber-man or Chamberlain But the Office of Chamberlain and Chamber-man were afterward made distinct Offices as among other proofs will appear by an ancient duty upon Merchants who paid 16 pence whereof ten pence went to the Chamberlain and the other six to the Chamber-Man But the Office of Chamber-Man was supprest in the Person of Charles Duke of Orleans Anno 1544. or to speak more properly we may say that it assumed under Francis the First the present Title it is now known under of Chief Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber The present Great Chamberlain is the Duke of Boüillon who has yearly 3600 l. under the name of Wages and a Pension of 20000 l. When the King sits on his Bed of Justice or in a general Assembly of the Estates the Great Chamberlain sits at his Feet upon a Violet-Coloured Velvet Cushion Embroidered with Flower deluces of Gold He is present at all Audiences of Ambassadours where takes his Place behind his Majesties Chair of State between the Chief Gentleman of the Bed-Chamber who is on his right and the Great Master of the Wardrobe whose Place is on his left Antiently in the Queens absence he was wont to lie in the Kings Bed-Chamber Upon the Coronation-Day he takes the Royal Buskins from the Abbot of St. Denis and puts them on the Kings Legs and then invests him with the Dalmatick Robe of Azure Blue and with the Mantle Royal. As the Great Chamberlains have the honour to be nearest the sacred Persons of their Kings while they are alive so when nature has exacted from them her Tribute and they come to die they with the Chief Gentlemen of the Bed-Chamber interre their Bodies The homage done to the King by any Dukes or other Persons of higher Rank holding their Lands or Seignieuries of his Majesty was antiently performed in the Bed-Chamber whither being Conducted by the Great Chamberlain Bare-headed and without Sword Belt or Spurs and kneeling down and putting their hands between the Kings Hands they promised him Fealty and Homage Of which Ceremony we have a fair Example in Froissard in the 25th Chapter of the First Volume of his History namely in the Homage done by Edward the Third King of England to Philip de Valois to whom being brought in and in the posture as aforesaid the Great Chamberlain-tendered these words You become the Liege-Man of the King my Lord that here is as Duke of Guienne and Peer of France and you promise Fealty and Loyalty to him to bear Say Yes And the King of England as Duke of Guienne answered Yes and the King received him for his Liege-Man Thus Froissard who likewise tells us that this Homage had better have been let alone it being so Stomached by that Couragious King that it caused those long and bloody Wars between the two Nations of which all Histories resound and which are hardly yet well extinct but lie couched under Embers till opportunity shall raise them into new Flames At present when any Marshal of France Governour of a Town Place or Province or any other is to take the Oath of Fidelity to the King the Marshal or such other Person gives his Hat Gloves and Sword to the Usher of the Bed-Chamber and then advancing towards the King who expects him in his Chair of State he kneels down upon a Cushion presented him by one of the Chief Valets de Chambre and putting his Hands between his Majesties when the said Oath being read to him by the Secretary under whose Division his Place is he gives his assent in the manner aforesaid and then rising up and making Obeisance to his Majesty goes back and takes again of the Usher of the Bed-Chamber the things he left with him to whom as well as to some other Officers of the Bed-Chamber he makes an honourable Present The Great Chamberlains had formerly a Table furnished out of the Kings own Kitchin but the late Duke of Chevreuse Great Chamberlain agreed with the Masters of the Houshold to have instead of it that which is still kept by them under the Name of the
worn by the people extending from the Loyre to the British Ocean and containing the Provinces of Brittany Normandy Anjou Tourain Main le Beausse the Isle of France part of Champain the Dukedom of Burgundy and the County of Lyonnois 4. Belgica from the Belgae a potent Nation of that Tract taking up all the East parts viz. Picardy the rest of Champain the County of Burgundy with so much of Germany and the Netherlands as lieth on this side of the Rhine part whereof hath been reconquered lately by the Present King and the rest remaining to the Spaniard the States of the Vnited Provinces and to the Empire In the new Modelling of the Empire by Constantine the Great Gaul was divided into 17 Provinces as 1. Lugdunensis prima 2. Secunda 3. Tertia 4. Quarta 5. Belgica prima 6. Secunda 7. Germania Prima 8. Secunda 9. Narbonensis Prima 10. Secunda 11. Aquitania Prima 12. Secunda 13. Novempopulonia 14. Viennensis 15. Maxima Sequanorum 16. Alpes Graiae Poeninae 17. Alpes Maritimae Of these 17 Germania Prima and Secunda all Belgica Prima and part of Secunda saving only what has been lately Reconquered and all that of the Alpes Graiae and Poeninae and so much of the Maxima Sequanorum as is in Switzerland are now dismembred from the name and account of France The modern Division of France is threefold First According to its Ecclesiastical Government Secondly According to its Civil Government or Administration of Justice And thirdly According to its military Government 1. According to its Ecclesiastical Government it is divided into 17 Archbishopricks containing 106 Bishopricks and Diocesses besides the Archbishopricks of Cambray Besançon and the Bishopricks of Arras St. Omers Ypres and Perpignan in the Conquests which are subdivided into Parishes 2. According to the Civil Government and Administration of Justice it is divided into 10 Parliaments besides several other Sovereign Courts and into many Bayliwicks and Seneschalchies 3. According to the Military Government it is divided into twelve Governments within France and four in the Conquered Countries being sixteen in all Of these sixteen Four lie Northward viz. 1. Picardy 2. Normandy 3. The Isle of France 4. Champaign Four in the middle of France and on each side the Loire viz. 5. Britany 6. Orleanois 7. The Dutchy of Burgundy 8. Lyounois Four are Southern and beyond that River viz. 9. Guienne 10. Languedoc 11. Dauphiny 12. Provence The four last lie Eastwards towards Germany and are 13. The French Low Countries or Netherlands 14. Lorrain 15 Alsatia 16. Franche Comte or the County of Burgundy There are reckoned in the Kingdom of France besides the Conquests 32 Cities above 4000 Towns 27400 Parishes 1450 Abbies 540 Arch-Priories 12320 Priories 567 Nunneries 700 Convents of Fryers 259 Commanderies of Malta several Colledges of Jesuits and other Religious Houses of later Foundations not reckoned and 10 Universities Of all which we shall speak more particularly elsewhere The Air is every where generally temperate and pure and so healthful that it is observed to be less subject to Plagues and Sickness than any other Country in Europe and the Air particularly about Montpelier is held Medicinal for Consumptions The North Wind reigns much there a great part of the Year which is thought to contribute much to the salubrity of the Air the Winter in the Northern parts of it is rather fiercer and sharper than in England though not altogether so long but the Summer much hotter and at Marseilles and some parts that way observed to be hotter than in several parts of Italy It is of an extraordinary fruitful Soil as well in the Mountains as the Vales every where watered with wholesom Springs and Streams and with several great Navigable Rivers and to say the truth there are not many Countries of Europe to which Nature has imparted so rich a Portion of her choicest Blessings the Woods there afford great plenty of Timber and Fuel-Wood and abound with Chesnuts and Walnuts the former producing excellent Pork and Bacon the latter great Quantities of Oyl which in some parts of France they use instead of Butter The Fields are large and open intermingled with Vines and Corn and bordered and interlined with choice of Fruits and the steep sides of Hills and most sandy stony grounds there produce often the strongest and richest Wines In fine it is every where so cultivated that it seems like the Garden of Eden it self Its Commodities Merchandises and Manufactures are many and so necessary to other Countries that of late they hardly barter them but for Money For from this Kingdom are Exported vast quantities of Salt Wine Brandy Corn dried Fruits Silks Stuffs Canvas Linnen Scissars Nuts Nut-Oyl Box-Wood Paper Skins Hats perfumed Gloves and all manner of Toys and trifles and besides they have within themselves and from their own Conquests and Plantations such quantities of Oranges Lemmons Oils Sugars Wooll Stuffs Cloths Sea-fish Stone for Building and all other things for necessity or pleasure that they will hardly barter of late years but Trade only for Money for the most part The Country is every where well stocked with fresh Fish store of Venison though little eaten by them Wildbores there much prised with Rabbits Hares and all sorts of Wild-Fowl and some unknown to us They want not good Beef which is very sweet nor Mutton which is generally sweeter than in England nor excellent Pork and as for tame Fowl they have it in much more abundance than in England and the Provinces of Normandy and Brittany furnish great store of good Butter salt and fresh but for Cheese they buy considerable quantities from the Hollanders and Suitzers By what has been said their Riches cannot but be very great and inexhaustible consisting in so many rich and inland Commodities that like so many Loadstones attract the greatest part of the riches both of Europe and of the whole World into France For their Wines Brandy Salt Canvas Silks Stuffs and Toys are Commodities which constantly bring them vast profits from England Holland and all the Northern Regions and then in the Spanish Dominions they vend so much Corn Linnen Flax Canvas Cordage Stuffs and all sorts of Manufactures that they fill their Country with the Coin of that Nation in return they likewise disperse great quantities of the said Commodities in Italy and Barbary and of late they drive a considerable Trade in the West-Indies and have made some progress in the East Their usual accounts are kept by Deniers Sols and Livers a Liver is twenty of their Sols or Pence which is a little more than eighteen pence of our Money and their Denier is the twelfth part of a Penny and very convenient for buying small quantities of things and reckoning Fractions but these Deniers in Specie or Coyn are used but in the parts of France remote from Paris Next are their Doubles which are worth two Deniers and are the sixth part of a
straight well-shaped and very handsome and well complexioned both Men and Women the middle sort of people are generally slight timber'd but indifferently well shaped and complexioned the Men more than the Women as if they had in some sort rob'd the Female Sex of their chief Prerogative Yet the Women there among the Gentry and better sort of Citizens are for the most part tall and well shaped and many of them very fair hair'd and complexiond very white skin'd and blue-eyed which is reckoned there a Beauty and some there are as perfect Beauties as any are in the World But the major part are black or pale yet well featured and are almost all so aiery so well carriaged as we have already remarked and withal so witty and dextrous at their Tongues that they charm without Beauty Those of Normandy Picardy and Brittany are most like the English and Germans but yet at and about Anger 's and Blois are reckoned to be both the handsomest and wittiest Women in all France Those in Languedoc Provence and other Provinces towards Italy and Spain come nearer the temper and complexion of those two Nations And in a word we may say of the whole Nation in general that they are of a Sanguine and airy temper and complexion Their Diet among the Peasants is very miserable who feed on black Bread Sallets and Broth made of a little Salt and Herbs fatned with the rinds of Rusty-Bacon and on Apples and other Fruits and drink Water almost all the Year daring not to eat their own Fowls nor drink the Wine of their own growth for fear of being taxed the more they being very envious one against another and apt to betray one another and carry tales on such occasions to the Assessors of Taxes making them believe their Neighbours are richer than they think and consequently able to bear a heavier burden by which they became the mutual instruments of their own misery But in Towns and Cities Tradesmen and Artificers diet well enough only they eat their meat fresh and fresh having constantly boiled meat and Broth they call Soupe for Dinner made generally of a little piece of Mutton Beef and Veal and sometimes a Fowl and at Night they have commonly a joint of meat roasted or some good Fowl with Fruits and Sallets on Fish-Days they have their meager Broths of Herbs with Fish or Pulse in proportion and always a competent quantity of Wine The Noblemen Gentry and richer sort keep very good Tables though not so profuse as the English they chusing rather to shew their riches in Coaches Horses Liveries Attendants and other Equipage than in Diet Yet at Feasts and Entertainments they are generally more Magnificent than the English They use great variety of Hashes Entries Kickshaws Poignant Sawces and other made Dishes But in Pastry they use only Pasties and no Pies among which the Hare and Wild-Boar Pasties are much in esteem they eat much young Kid but Venison they prize it not They are in general great Eaters of Sallets Fruits and Bread they use no salt meat but Pork and Bacon but they use much Salt and Pepper in their Hashes and other Dishes Those of the Female Sex seldom drink Wine there till they come to be Married Their Attire being so much imitated by the English cannot be unknown whose Nations little or much following of late years their Mode and therefore I shall refer you to your own Eyes for that but this may be said in general of them both Men and Women that are more neat curious and costly in their Habit than in any thing else and put them on after such a manner that they always become them and that they look upon a fair outside as one of the first and most necessary steps to any that would live and make a figure in the World Their Recreations and Exercises are Tennis every Village affording a Tennis-Court and Paris many hundreds Dancing which is natural to them Masques Playes Musick Singing Fencing Riding the Great Horse Vaulting Bowls Biliards Dice and Cards to which they are much addicted It is accounted a mean and scandalous thing to smoke Tobacco at Paris or in any of the Inland Towns and they will drink briskly enough for good Company and Divertisement but seldom to Drunkenness at least the better sort and never drink without eating some good bit Their Gentry use much Hunting and Hawking and for the former sport buy many Horses and Hounds out of England having them in great esteem At Court they use too running at the Ring at a Head and Carousels where these and other nobler Divertisements are practised They have Christen-Names and Sur-Names as in England Their Christen-Names are generally Saints-Names of which they join many times two or more and sometimes a Mans and Womans Name both in one compound as Lewis-Marie or Marie-Lewis Their Surnames have generally the Particles du de la le or la that is to say of of the or the before them and are taken from the name of some Quality Trade or other matter or thing or accident if they be not noble as le Blanc White la Fleur the Flower le Fevre the Smith c. But Noblemens or Gentlemens Names are generally taken from some chief or ancient Land of their Inheritance or Possession and their Sons that are not Heirs to the whole Estate or succeed to any Lordships newly acquired by their Father many times Quit their Fathers Name and take up the Name of that Land or Lordship which they Inherit from him which in process of time breeds obscurity in the Genealogies of Families notwithstanding the help of Heraldry which yet is very much cultivated among them It is to be observed to by the way before we quit this Article that a Woman by Marrying quits not her Name for though in common Conversation she be called by her Husbands Name yet in all Writings and Acts she Signs always her Maiden-Name They number as the English and other Europeans but they compute the Year from the first of January and follow the New or Gregorian Account which is ten days before the Julian or English and denominate their quarters or terms of payment from the first day of every first Month of each Quarter As for Example the Quarter beginning the first of January they call the Quarter of January c. Of the King Royal Family and other Princely Families in France CHAP. III. Of the Present KING and of the Title Stile and Prerogatives of the KINGS of France THE Present King is named Lewis the Great the Fourteenth of that Name King of France and Navarre Son of Lewis the Thirteenth Surnamed the Just and Grand-child of Henry the Great Many have called our Most August Monarch God-given for his happy Birth granted to the Prayers of the French after twenty three years expectation He was Born of Queen Anne of Austria at St. Germans en Lay the 5th of September 1638. and
and where they are to be judged too when they are impeacht of any Crime And though in the last Reign it was seen that de facto the Marshal de Marillac was Judged by Delegated Commissaries and the Duke of Montmorency by the Parliament of Toulouze the Parliament of Paris pretends That these two Acts were done against their Priviledges Secondly The Counsellers of the Parliament of Paris pretend a Priviledge to sit in all the other Parliaments without allowing the same Priviledge reciprocally to the Counsellers of the other Parliaments in the Parliament of Paris yet it is to be remarked That the Priviledge of sitting in the Parliament of Paris was granted to the Counsellers of the Parliament of Toulouze by an Ordinance of Charles the Seventh in the year 1454. which the Parliament of Paris refused to verifie whereupon the Parliament of Toulouze made a Decree in the year 1466. by which they Ordained That the Counsellers of the Parliament of Paris should have no Admittance into the Parliament of Toulouze till they had obey'd the abovesaid Ordinance made in their Favour Thirdly The other Parliaments not having that extent of Jurisdiction as the Parliament of Paris have but one Chamber of Inquests the Parliament of Toulouze but two whereas the Parliament of Paris has six The Parliament of Paris opens every year the next day after St. Martins Day in this manner The whole Body being in their Scarlet Robes go to a solemn Mass Celebrated on that occasion in the Great Hall of the Palace after which the Advocates and Proctors are sworn in the Grand Chamber and the Bishop that said Mass has that day Place and a deliberative Voice among them The Parliament continues sitting from that time till the 7th of September after which follows the Vacations During which Recess nevertheless there sits a Chamber called the Chamber of the Vacations which takes Cognisance of those Causes that require speedy dispatch and Criminal Affairs In the five Chambers of Inquests all Processes or Suits are Judged concluded and received by Writing that they may the better discern whether the Appeals made to this High Court of Parliament be made reasonably or no. The fourteen Presidents of the Chambers of Inquests and of those of the Requests which are two are but Counsellers that have accepted that Commission and when the Parliament is met and marches in State they take place among those of the Grand Chamber according to a Regulation of Parliament of the 1st of September 1677. By which it is Ordain'd That in Assemblies Processions and other publick Solemnities these Presidents shall be preceded only by two Counsellers of the Grand Chamber of which the first is to be Titular and the second may be only Honorary As for the Presidents of the Inquests and Requests among themselves they are to take place in their march according to their standing and the order of their admission The Court called the Tournelle-Civil established by Lewis the Great in 1667 and 1669. Judges of all Appeals in civil matters to the value of 1000. Livers or Pounds French and of an Estate of 50 Livers yearly rent It is composed of one President wearing the Mortar-Cap six Counsellers of the Grand Chamber and of four Counsellers out of every Chamber of Inquests who go thither by turns once in three Months The Kings Declaration for this purpose of the year 1669. bears date the 11th of August and was Registred in Parliament and in the Chamber of Accounts the 13th of August The Tournelle-Criminal Judges of all Appeals in Criminal matters excepting those made by Gentlemen and other persons of State which are to be judged in the Grand Chamber it is called the Tournelle because it is composed of two Presidents with Mortar-Caps ten Lay-Counsellers of the Grand Chamber and of two Counsellers out of every Chamber of Inquests which go thither every one Tour à Tour that is in their respective turns once in three Months excepting only those of the Grand Chamber which are there six Months from whence it is called the Tournelle At present there are four Presidents with Mortar-Caps The two Chambers of Requests of the Palace are of the Body of the Parliament according to what Charles the Fifth writ to Cardinal Vivazer in the year 1450. where he says that the Requests are de Gremio Curiae They Judge of all personal Possessory and mixt Causes between priviledged persons that have Committimus's whether they be Officers that are Commoners at Court or others There likewise the Requests of the Houshold composed of the Masters of Request we have spoken of above who take a like cognisance of the Causes of priviledged persons that enjoy Committimus's at whose choice it is to plead either before the Masters of the Requests of the Houshold or before those of the Palace In old time Justice was administred without Appeal by the Bayliffs and Seneschals that the King sent into the respective Provinces for that purpose which were chosen out of the ablest Sages of the Law of his Houshold but since the Parliaments have been Instituted or made fixed and sedentary Appeals are admitted to the Parliaments from the Sentences rendred by the said Bayliffs and Seneschals In fine the Parliament at present consists in all 1. Of one Chief or first President who is named Nicholas Potier Knight Lord of Novion c. and seven other Presidents called Presidents au Mortier or wearing Mortar-Fashioned Caps who are John de Coigneux Marquiss of Montmeliand c. Lewis de Bailleul Marquiss of Chateau-Gontier John-James de Mesmes Count d' Avaux John de Longueville Marquiss of Maisons Charles Colbert Brother to the late Great Minister of State of that Name formerly Ambassadour in England and at Nimmeguen c. and at present Secretary and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and lastly Lewis de Molé Lord of Champlatreux of thirty Clerks or Clergymen Counsellers of Lay-Counsellers of two Advocates and one Proctor-General of 19 Substitutes or Deputies of three Registrers or Recorders in the Chief Registers Office viz. One Recorder Civil and Prothonotary in Chief one Recorder of the Presentations and one Recorder Criminal and of eight other Secretaries and Notaries called the Notaries and Secretaries of the King and of the Parliament two Recorders for the Audiences and Council of the Tournelle five other Deputy Recorders in the five Chambers of Inquests one Recorder in Chief of the Requests of the Palace two other Deputy Recorders under him in each of the two Chambers of Requests 1. First or Chief Usher twenty eight other Ushers of the Parliament and of the Chambers of Inquests and of the Tournelle Eight Ushers of the Requests of the Palace The number of Advocates is not fixed but the Proctors are four hundred in number they have both of them a Dean over them CHAP. XXXII Of the Chamber of Accounts THE Chamber of Accounts is composed of 1. First or Chief President ten other Presidents seventy Masters of the